Mitchell Johnson will have been the name England most feared when Australia
revealed their squad for the first Ashes Test

He was the butt of the Barmy Army’s mickey-taking songs and a man who seemed to get a new tattoo every time he bowled poorly, but Mitchell Johnson is faster and better than before and intent on revenge with England’s batsmen and the Ashes his prime target.

Johnson, who returned to Australia’s Test squad after a seven month hiatus, is born again if you believe the propaganda. George Bailey might be the new boy in the 12 announced in Brisbane yesterday, which retains 10 players from the Oval Test last summer, but Johnson is the one that will have caused England to catch their breath.

And with good cause too. Always quick, mostly erratic, Johnson has improved as England’s one-day batsmen can attest. Although England’s Test team appear to be his bogey side (he averages four runs a wicket more against them overall than other teams and almost seven runs more against them in Australia), Michael Clarke has already tipped him to be man of the series.

It was Graham Gooch, England’s batting coach, who came out with the most apposite assessment about the power fast bowlers can inflict on a match. “Some batsmen play fast bowling better than others but nobody likes facing it,” he used to say. “If anyone says different they are lying.” England have taken note of his rise, which is why they have had Tymal Mills and Harry Gurney two talented left-armers peppering them in he nets.

Johnson, though, is apparently bowling quicker than ever and with more control. Including him now is like adding a supercharger to an already dangerous pace attack comprising Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle. It might prove to be the clincher too, as long as the expectation does not get to Johnson as it has in the past.

His team-mates, as you might expect, are in no doubt about his new potency.

“Mitch is a lot quicker than he was,” said Brad Haddin, who as Australia’s wicket-keeper should know best. “He’s at the height of his game at the moment. He’s had a pretty successful 12 months so he’s refreshed. In India he was very, very quick.”

It is never easy to identify what, if anything, has suddenly changed when someone improves so dramatically, but Haddin believes it is Johnson’s self-confidence, previously as volatile as mercury in a thermometer.

“If you are the top of your game you feel a lot better about yourself and you relax a bit more,” said Haddin. “He’s in good shape. He’s fit and strong and bowling the quickest I’ve ever seen from behind the stumps. He’s got a yard on what he had in South Africa a few years ago when he bowled some fast spells.”

He roughed up Jonathan Trott in the one-day series against England last September, even striking the batsman on the head. Since then Trott has said that he is not bothered by fast bowling - a claim that has seen Johnson himself retort with that old fast bowling staple that he will target Trott and, just for good measure, Alastair Cook too. Actually, Cook is a good puller of the ball and that particular gambit could prove expensive.

According to Harris, Australia’s best bowler in the Ashes series just gone and a former team-mate of Johnson when the latter played for Queensland, the left-armer’s desire to get back into the Test team also played its part.

“I’ve kept in touch with Mitch the whole time he’s been out of the team and it’s been really hurting him to be out,” said Harris. “He has wanted to get back but he hasn’t put too much pressure on himself to do it. He got his mind right, he got his game right, worked on a few technical things and he’s gone and done that.

“Watching him bowl in the one-day series in India, I think he’s back to his best. Speak to any of the batsmen - bowling at the pace he does no one likes it. He’s moving the ball a bit as well so if he gets it right he’s going to take a lot of wickets.”

All these eulogies have come from his deeds in one-day cricket. The mental fragility from which he previously suffered is probably more easily concealed in white ball cricket than red, with any meltdown less protracted. Johnson has suffered them too, even admitting that the Barmy Army got to him with a song highlighting his scattergun bowling. Yet Haddin believes Johnson may even embrace the Barmy Army this time as he and others do.

“He dealt with that well in the one-day series,” said Haddin. “Actually, we missed the Barmy Army a bit in England they seemed spread out. It’s good to get home to bigger grounds because they bring a great atmosphere to the ground. The chants are in good humour and they respect the cricket. If Mitch is letting them go like we know he can they’ll respect that.”

Whether England’s batsmen do the same will depend on how he starts at the Gabba next week and whether he “bowls to the left” or “bowls to the right,” or whether he splits those two down the middle and a few England lips with it.